Collaboration between France and Norway on geologically relevant physical processes

This collaboration between four French and two Norwegian groups focuses on three aspects of soft condensed matter physics: (1) dynamics of granular media, (2) elastic properties of rough surfaces and (3) fracture dynamics. The collaboration has run for se veral years and is well established. It centers on the exhange of graduate students between groups in the two countries. At the present stage of the collaboration, we will focus on the following aspects of the three general themes listed above: 1) We are studying experimentally the force distribution in granular packings, in addition to continue our work on the gas-grain interactions in diferent flow regimes, 2) We are studying the elastic properties and frictional properties of self-affine surfaces in co ntact and 3) We are studying dynamical aspects of brittle fracture.